Turning Point
by Iccirrion
Summary: The newest member of Star Fox finds himself a prisoner of Wolf O'Donnell. (Merry Christmas Benbuscus!)
1. Chapter 1

The husky peeked around the corridor wall, a bead of sweat sliding down the fur on his forehead as he saw two silver, humanoid robots walking towards him. They hadn't noticed him, and he wouldn't give them the chance to.

Quickly turning the corner and drawing his blaster the husky fired off two lasers, the red beams both finding their mark in the single red 'eye' on each of the robots. They stood, twitching for a few moments before collapsing into heaps on the floor.

The husky took a few steps forward and prodded one of the machines with his boot, checking to see if the machine really was…dead, he guessed.

"Sky." A voice came in over his earpiece, "Have you found the computer yet?"

Sky looked around before replying, "Not yet Fox, this place is built like a maze."

There were a few moments of silence, listening closely, Sky could hear the sounds of battle through the earpiece.

"Keep searching, if there really is a kill code in there, we need to make sure we get it before they do." Fox said finally.

Star Fox had been called out to the planet Rilyer to help put down a group of revolutionaries who had managed to begin the creation of a robot army. Skyler 'Sky' Orwell had just joined the mercenary group when they received the request, and it wasn't looking like an easy first mission.

Fox was out in his Arwing, providing air support for the Rilyian army while they advanced on the manufacturing plant the revolutionaries were using to create their own army. Falco was on the ground, providing support wherever it was most needed. And Sky had been sent into a nearby facility where, as their sources claimed, he could find a kill code that could be used to disable the machines.

Sky ran a hand over his right ear, it often started to itch when he felt under pressure.

"I'll find it." Sky said, trying to sound confident as he steadied his blaster and proceeded further into the facility.

At first he had thought it dangerous, that the facility was deep in enemy territory, but as it turned out, the machines didn't leave much of a rear guard, most of their forces were at the front line, so all he had to deal with was the occasional patrol, and if you knew where to aim, the robots didn't pose much of a threat. So for the most part he was running through corridors, peeking into rooms and checking if they held the computer databanks, something he hoped would be fairly obvious to recognize.

He wasn't searching for much longer, about five minutes after he was contacted by Fox he entered a room lined with black boxes covered in blinking blue lights. A complex looking computer lay at the opposite side of the room. Taking a careful look around the room, Sky entered, glancing over his shoulder every other second. When he got to the computer he examined the glowing, green display, despite appearances, it seemed fairly simple to operate. He quickly typed a command into the keypad and the lights turned blue as the system was unlocked. It didn't take him long to find the kill code he was looking for, the file had been marked for urgent messaging to the military, but it obviously hadn't been sent before their communications were cut out.

"Fox." Sky whispered into his communicator, he didn't want to be found out now, "I've found the code, downloading now." He held his finger over the holographic icon of the file, pausing for a second as something in the back of his mind reminded him that it shouldn't be that easy, but he pressed the icon anyway.

Sky didn't have time to realize that the file had been linked to several bombs planted around the facility before he was flung across the room and into the corridor wall. He looked around at the fires that now burned around him as his eyes started to close.

Sky woke up not long after, the fires had died down, the metal corridors not being all that flammable enough to keep burning for long. He tried lifting his arms, but the pain kept them pinned to the ground.

'_At least you're not dead._' He thought to himself as he sat there, unable to move. He could feel a wet patch on his chest, and his normally white jacket had started to turn a red-brown color, he looked down at the wound, seeing a small piece of metal embedded in his skin. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt, but that was probably shock.

He leant his head back and tried to lose himself to sleep again, someone would come for him eventually, right?

Several hours later, someone did find Sky. A wolf, accompanied by a chameleon and an eagle, walked down the corridor. They would occasionally stop to look under a piece of rubble, or pick up something or other that seemed valuable.

It was the eagle who first noticed Sky lying unconscious against the wall, immediately recognizing his uniform and turning to the wolf.

"Boss, it's one of Fox's." he rasped, as if he had something stuck in his throat, "He's alive."

The wolf walked over to Sky and knelt down in front of him, examining the husky. The chameleon followed, pulling a knife off his belt and holding it up to Sky's neck.

"Should we finish him off?" He asked, a cruel smile on his face.

The wolf pushed the blade away, "Leave it Leon. There's no point in killing an enemy who's already defeated." Leon scowled as he stood back and put the knife back onto his belt.

"So, what do we do with him?" The eagle rasped as it knelt down and took the blaster and reflector from Sky's belt.

The wolf sat in thought for a few moments, still examining Sky before standing up and turning to Leon.

"Take him with us." He ordered, receiving quizzical looks from both his companions. "He looks strong enough, and when those wounds heal there won't be any permanent damage. At the very least he can be sold as a slave on one of the fringe worlds."

Leon still scowled as he walked over to the eagle, who was already pulling the unconscious Sky to his feet, and helped carry the weight.

"He'll have to do, I don't think we're going to find anything else of value in ruins like this." Wolf said as they started walking back the way they came.


	2. Chapter 2

Sky knew he was on board a spaceship before he even opened his eyes. He could never tell what it was…maybe it was the artificial gravity, maybe the constantly recycled air, or maybe just the fact that he was light years away from ground. Eventually though, he did decide to open his eyes and look around.

He was lying down on a plain grey mattress in a small room that would better have been described as a cell, the barred windows and door only reinforcing this point. There was a small cubicle in one corner, presumably a toilet, a sink just beside that, and a simple metal chair and table in a corner near the door, both bolted to the floor.

He himself was wearing something different; his Star Fox uniform had been replaced with nothing but a pair of simple, dull-green trousers. No shoes, nothing to cover his chest, which he noticed the wound had been cleaned and stitched, and obviously no blaster.

He briefly wondered what had happened to him, the revolutionaries on Rilyer had never taken prisoners before.

"So you're awake." A voice rasped from just outside his cell as an eagle walked up to the barred window and looked in.

"Where am I?" Sky asked as he sat up and tried to get a look out into the room on the other side of the window, not that there was much to see other than a simple corridor wall.

"On board the Amarok." The eagle rasped as she took a few steps back and leaned against the wall, "Star Wolf's new flagship."

Hearing the name Star Wolf instantly put Sky on edge, had he really found himself prisoner of Star Fox's biggest rival already. He tried to swallow his fear, who knew what they would have in store for him, they must have recognized his uniform, and he had heard about some of the people who had joined Star Wolf.

"I'm Aquila Dorison." The eagle said as Sky stood up and slowly stretched each of his limbs, checking for pain. "I've been told to keep an eye on you until the boss decides what to do with you." Aquila tilted her head, "So, who're you?"

"Skyler Orwell." Sky said after a moment's pause, he still wasn't sure what to make of his situation. "What are you planning to do with me?" He asked, hoping the answer wouldn't be too bad.

"Don't know exactly, the boss mentioned something about selling you off as a slave to one of the fringe worlds." Aquila replied, rubbing a scar on her throat. "Guess you'll find out soon enough."

Sky let himself fall back into his bed, things weren't looking too good for him. He was a prisoner of Star Wolf, and the only plan they had for involved him ending up as a slave on some backwater planet where he would likely never be found. He just lay there, waiting for something to happen for almost an hour before Aquila knocked on the door.

"Get up." She ordered as she unlocked the door, "We're going to the training room."

After a few minutes of walking through the corridors of the ship, Sky was pushed into a plain, white room. Standing opposite him was Wolf O'Donnell himself.

The wolf threw a belt that held both Sky's blaster and reflector at him.

"Pick it up." He ordered as the belt landed at Sky's feet. Hesitantly, he reached down and picked it up, cautious as to why he was being given a weapon.

"Put it on." Wolf ordered again, Sky obeyed, keeping his eye on Wolf.

The instant he had fastened the belt, Wolf charged at him, throwing a punch at such speed that Sky was knocked clean into the wall when it collided with his face. He brought a hand up to check his face, finding a small trickle of blood coming from his nose.

Before he could make any attempt at retaliation, Sky was forced to bring his arms up to block as Wolf once again charged.

For several minutes they continued, Sky trying his best to block Wolf's unrelenting attacks, occasionally trying to get in one of his own, but none ever found their mark.

Eventually Wolf knocked sky completely to the ground and drew his blaster, aiming it at the back of Sky's head.

"You're dead." He said simply, before bringing the butt of the weapon down swiftly onto Sky's skull, knocking him cold instantly.

Sky woke up back in his cell, a throbbing pain in the back of his head. He just lay there, wondering if this was his new fate, to be a training dummy for Wolf.

After about an hour Aquila appeared at the door and pushed a tray of food in through a gap in the bottom.

"Eat up." She advised as she pushed bottle of water through the gap as well, "You're life's going to be hard enough without starving."

Sky painfully got out of his bed and picked up the tray and bottle, setting them on the table in the corner and sitting down.

He ate slowly, contemplating what was going to happen to him now. He wondered why Wolf had bothered to kidnap him and fix him up if all he wanted was someone to beat up every so often. There had to be something else…

The next week followed a pretty similar pattern to his first day, Sky would wake up and shortly afterwards be taken to the training room where he would spar with Wolf, each time taking longer before he was eventually knocked out and brought back to his cell where he would be given food and water.

Sky was just starting to get used to this routine, and then Wolf made a mistake…


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay with this chapter, but real life commitments and set up problems with my PC have left me with little time to write/upload. But here it is, there's one more chapter planned which will be out by the end of the month, I will make sure of that.**

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><p>Sky examined the floor carefully as he was marched to the training room again by Aquila, more out of boredom than anything else, he didn't often see much outside his cell.<br>The floor could have been far more interesting, it was a dull metallic grey, and had little in the way of pattern other than the recurring grating every few metres that indicated a maintenance hatch.

It wasn't long before Sky was hastily pushed into the familiar white room, finding Wolf once again opposite him with the belt that held Sky's reflector and blaster.  
>Aquila left the room and sealed the door as Wolf tossed the belt at Sky, who barely had time to catch it before he had to roll out of the way of a blast from Wolf's own blaster. Sky had learned recently that Wolf wasn't limiting himself to hands and feet in these sparring sessions, and that he really would die if he wasn't careful.<br>As he rolled, Sky was able to put the belt on, pulling off the reflector and gripping it in his left hand before charging at Wolf, his right fist raised.  
>Wolf tried to dodge, but the punch collided with his shoulder, the shock knocking his blaster to the ground. He retaliated quickly, bringing his foot around into Sky's side, knocking him back as Wolf leant down to retrieve his weapon.<br>Sky quickly stood up again and rushed at Wolf with another punch, determined to deny him any advantage.

The battle continued back and forth for almost an hour, Sky trying to keep Wolf away from his blaster, while trying to land blows himself, and Wolf viciously fighting him off as he struggled to retrieve his weapon.  
>Both canines were panting as Wolf made a final lunge for his blaster, Sky saw his desperation as an opportunity and ran at him, drawing his own blaster.<p>

"You're de…" Sky's triumphant claim was cut off as he felt a sharp pain in his side and looked down to see the tip of the blade on Wolf's blaster had pierced him just enough to draw blood, as a smile appeared on Wolf's lips.  
>They both stood back from each other and returned their weapons to their holsters, Sky scowling, angry at himself for getting too confident.<p>

"I look forward to the next time we meet." Wolf said as the door opened behind Sky and Aquila entered the room, "Take him back to his cell."

Aquila gave Wolf a quizzical look but Wolf simply waved her on, she took a rough hold of Sky's arm and pulled him out of the room, to little resistance.

Sky was curious as to why Wolf hadn't made any attempt to knock him out this time, he hadn't ever been able to walk himself back to his cell before.

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><p>A few hours later, Sky was pacing around his cell, trying to figure out what he was going to do. He had no desire to spend the rest of his life as a slave, but it didn't look like any help was coming for him, and there wasn't much he could do.<p>

He sighed and let himself drop onto his bed, and yelped as he felt something solid underneath him. He reached down and his hand wrapped around a familiar metal object… his reflector. Sky quickly looked down to his side and saw he also still had his blaster.  
>'<em>The fight must've been taxing enough that neither of us remembered to take them back.<em>' Sky thought to himself as he quickly looked over to the door, seeing that Aquila wasn't there for once. A plan quickly formed in Sky's head.  
>'<em>It's not often that chances like this come about.<em>'

Sky quickly walked over to the door and drew his blaster, setting it at a low power before shooting the lock, which instantly became a sizzling red puddle on the floor.  
>Moving quickly he stepped out of the cell and checked up and down the corridor; he couldn't see any sign of movement. Sky tried to get his bearings, the ship he was on didn't seem too big, but he didn't know too much about ship design, the command bridge was normally at the bow, but he didn't know where that was from his cell.<br>Making a random guess, Sky eventually decided to go right, he knew he probably didn't have much time before someone would find his cell.

After only a few minutes of sneaking through the corridors of the ship, Sky managed to find a map of the ship at what appeared to be a main junction. He looked around, but from the lack of people it seemed it must've been 'night' on board the ship. He quickly ran up to the map and found the command bridge, just a few corridors away and down a level.

Sky was about to start off running again when he heard footsteps approaching from the side, he glanced around for somewhere to hide, but couldn't see any reliable cover, until he looked down at the floor and remembered the grates he had seen.  
>Hoping that they really were maintenance hatches, Sky ran over to one as quickly as he could and lifted it up, revealing a small tunnel which he might just be able to get into.<br>He turned back to the source of the footsteps before taking a breath and stepping down in the tunnel, closing the grate as quietly as he could behind him.

Sky lay still for several moments, trying his hardest to keep his breath silent as he heard the footsteps go right over his head. He waited a few minutes more to make sure they had gone before he tried to remember what way he had been going, recalled the image of the map, and started crawling through the tunnel, guessing it might be safer to travel using the tunnels.

It took just under fifteen minutes for Sky to find himself at a vent above the command bridge, he carefully positioned himself above the vent and looked down.  
>Below him was Wolf himself, gazing absently at the various displays in front of him.<p>

Sky decided there would be no better chance than now to make a move, he drew his blaster and brought his feet down onto the vent, falling down just in front of Wolf.  
>He quickly raised his blaster and levelled it at Wolf's head, smirking.<p>

"I want out." He said as he adjusted his grip on his weapon, staring directly at Wolf, who seemed completely unfazed by Sky's sudden appearance.

"Aquila." Wolf said, his voice quiet as Sky felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of his own head, "Skyler Orwell, I'm impressed with your performance." Wolf said, not making any move to disarm Sky. "But did you really think I wouldn't notice you leaving with your weapons?"

Sky cursed silently, why hadn't he ever thought of the possibility of it being a trap, even the absence of any guards should've alerted him.

"The way I see it, you have three options." Wolf said as he leaned back in his chair, confident that Sky would hear him out, "One, shoot me, kill the infamous Wolf O'Donnell, but Aquila will kill you just as quickly if you do." He paused as Sky felt the gun push a little harder against his head. "Two; you can drop your weapon and return to your cell, where you can wait until we find somewhere to sell you. You get to live out your life with masters who I hear are actually quite reasonable." Wolf paused again as he gestured at one of the monitors in front of him that displayed the details of a small planet.

"And option three." Wolf leaned forward and extended a hand, "If you take my hand, you can join Star Wolf. I've seen your skills; you'd be a valuable asset to us. You live, keep your freedom and gain the power to live how you see fit."

Sky's eyes widened slightly, so those sessions hadn't been him acting as a punching bag for Wolf, but rather training, a test of his ability. He thought over his choices; death, slavery or Star Wolf.  
>He really didn't want to die, he hadn't broken out for that. Slavery had even less appeal, being trapped on an alien planet, never being allowed to leave. And if he joined Star Wolf, he would become a criminal and an enemy of Star Fox…but then again, something about the idea appealed to him, the thought of making his own life, not having to care what others thought of him, and besides, maybe that way he could find out why Wolf decided to save him, why he personally worked with him.<p>

Slowly, Sky lowered his blaster, feeling the pressure on the back of his head ease a little as well. Taking one last moment to think about his decision Sky reached out his own hand grabbing hold of Wolf's.

Wolf smiled as he shook Sky's hand, "Welcome to Star Wolf."


	4. Epilogue

Sky looked down through the floor of the Amarok's observation room, taking in the field of stars that lay below him, wondering how many he had visited already, how many more he would see.

It had been five months since he had made the decision to join Star Wolf; he still wondered himself why he had made that decision, although he was becoming more and more curious as to why Wolf had rescued him that day. Since joining Star Wolf he had learned that Wolf wasn't the type to just rescue anyone they saw in danger, and even if he had, he wouldn't have bothered to train them or consider inviting them to join Star Wolf.

So why had Wolf saved him? Sky felt that was why he had joined Star Wolf, to find the answer to that question. That, and he was feeling more and more like he belonged here, around Wolf he felt a confidence he normally never had, he felt free to not care about what others thought of him.

He scratched his head, why did he feel such an attachment to Wolf now, someone who he had been told to treat as an enemy by Fox's team?

His thoughts wandered to his short time with Star Fox; he wondered where they were now, had they been searching for him? Or was did they assume he had been killed?

Sky felt that question would be answered soon enough, Wolf and Fox were sworn rivals, eventually they would find each other again.

Taking one last glance at the stars below, Sky turned and left the room, heading for his old cell; for some reason he found himself comfortable there.

As he walked, he thought about how Wolf had trained him. It had been so different to how Fox trained the team; there it was all practice and repetition, occasional light sparring. But with Wolf, he felt pushed to his limits, he had never doubted that Wolf, at any point in their spars could, and would, have killed him. That thought brought back the question of why. Why had Wolf chosen him?

Sky soon arrived back at his cell, slumping down in the bed, thoughts continuing to swirl in his head. Maybe one day, he would find his answers, but for now he would follow Wolf and watch, trying to see the reason why he hadn't died that day.

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><p>Wolf sat in his chair in the control bridge of the Amarok, tapping his fingers against the side. He too was thinking, but of course, he knew the answer to Sky's question, it was just a matter of deciding whether to tell him, or let him figure it out himself.<p>

That day on Rialo, when he had first seen Sky, bleeding out against a wall; Wolf had no doubt that Sky would have died had he not made the decision to take him back with them. It had been very uncharacteristic of him, but the rest of the team knew well enough not to question him.

Wolf leaned forward and tapped a few commands into the display in front of him, not trying to do anything in particular.

"One Year." He muttered. He would give Sky one year from when he joined, seven months more to see if he would find the answer himself. And if he didn't…well, Wolf decided he would just have to come clean.

"Now let's see if I can find job." Wolf said to himself, straightening up and typing a few more commands. Maybe he could find something that would bring out Fox, he still had a score to settle there…

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><p><strong>And there it is. I know the ending was a bit lacking, but I was starting to run dry on ideas. I honestly don't think I did <em>too <em>badly with this, never having played Star Fox and whatnot, but I'm fairly certain there is space for improvement.**

**Anyway, this was a 2014 Christmas Present for Beninja2618 (He owns Skyler 'Sky' Orwell), so a rather belated Merry Christmas!**

**As with all my writing, constructive criticism is much appreciated and I will always respond to any questions you may have.**

**I do not own anything related to Star Fox. The character Aquila Dorison is of my own creation. The events of this story is purely my own interpretation of a possible set of events within the Star Fox universe and are in no way supposed to be considered canon, etc, etc.**


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